Rabbit models of cerebral vasospasm established with endovascular puncture

Objective To investigate the method of endovascular puncture to establish rabbit models of cerebral vasospasm. Methods New Zealand white rabbits were divided into 5 groups (12 h,1 d,2 d,3 d and 7 d) randomly, and each group was separated into subarachinoid hemorrhage (SAH) subgroup (n = 5) and control subgroup (n = 2). cerebral vascular spasm (CVS) models were established atfer SAH with endovascular puncture. CT scans before and after operation were performed. The internal diameters and the wall thicknesses of posterior communicans artery (PcoA) and basilar artery (BA) were measured with HE stain after the animals were executed. Results CVS model was successfully eastblished in 35 rabbits (SAH subgroup 25,control subgroup 10), resulting a successful rate of 48.61% . Compared with control subgroup, PcoA and BA showed shrinkage of internal diameters of 43.60% and 51.82% 12 h after SAH, respectively, and the shrinkage appeared as biphasic patterns until the 7th study day with another peaks of 29.32% and 45.19%, respectively. Conclusions Endovascular puncture is an effective method to establish rabbit of CVS. The death rate of animals can be decreased with the asage of new interventional material and perfection for the details of operation.